Columnist: Pitchers and catchers report to spring training camps

Pitchers and catchers report to the big league baseball spring training camps in mid February. It is a reminder that soon it will be spring.

Cole Kimball, the first player from both Hackettstown High School and Centenary College to ever make a regular-season Major League Baseball roster, is eager to get started as he hopes to regain a spot on the Washington Nationals' pitching staff. He missed a season and a half at the MLB level due to rotator cuff surgery.

“I'm going to come out, do what I always do — and hopefully help the club,” he told Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com after winning the 2012 Dernell Stenson Sportsmanship Award at the conclusion of the Arizona Fall League season. The award, in memory of a Cincinnati outfield prospect who died during Arizona Fall League activity in 2003, goes to the player in the league who best exemplifies unselfishness, hard work and leadership.
Those of us who have followed Cole's progression from high school to the big leagues, are not surprised he was chosen for such an award. Those are qualities he has brought to the field every day, for the last decade, while doing his work without complaints and playing the game the way it was meant to be played. "It means a lot," Kimball said of winning the prestigious award. “Hard work does pay off.”

After winning the International League Pitcher of the Week Award at the Triple-A level with a win against Mets' affiliate Buffalo and saves in back-to-back days against Phillies' affiliate Lehigh Valley, Kimball was promoted to the Nationals and realized his dream of making the majors in May of 2011. For a month he pitched brilliantly in relief appearances against teams such as the Phillies, Mets, Pirates and Marlins, with velocity in the high 90s balanced with an effective change of pace pitch.

However, he needed surgery in July of 2011 and it has been a long road back.

Kimball got a rehab assignment last summer at the Single-A and Double-A levels, but a torn lat muscle sidelined him once again. The Nationals won the East Division championship without him in the regular season, but could have used Kimball in the playoffs, when a tired bullpen broke down.

His performance in the fall league, which features the game's top prospects, gives Kimball and the Nats' organization renewed hope.

“I feel like I have a brand new arm,” he said. “It's getting closer and closer to where I was two years ago. It's a big step for me just to come out and feel healthy every day.”

Out of sight and out of mind, Cole may have been forgotten by many baseball fans in the area last year. But, Elvis has a feeling lots of people around the Hackettstown area will be sporting those bright red caps with the white “curly W” this fall, as Kimball and the Nats bid for a championship season.

In 2011, the first season in which he was invited to the big league camp after five minor league seasons, he was the first spring training arrival, dressed and ready to work out at 5:30 a.m. on reporting day. When I asked him about it after one of his saves at Lehigh Valley, he shrugged and said he wasn't trying to prove anything. He just likes to get up early and get his work done.

That is so Cole Kimball.

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Although they lost for the first time this season on Jan. 23, the Phillipsburg girls basketball team proved it deserves to be ranked in the state's Top 20, when the Stateliners held their own in a 53-48 loss to Shabazz of Newark, a squad that is top ranked in New Jersey and 14th in the U.S.A. The Liners (13-1) are state ranked for the first time in 37 seasons and stayed in the game by committing just 13 turnovers compared to 25 for Shabazz.

Jessie Sharr of Belvidere, who has joined Kaiser in the 1,000-point scorers circle in Warren County girls basketball this year, helped Belvidere defeat visiting Bernards 53-28 on Friday. Sharr scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

The County Seaters took control of the game early, outscoring the visiting Mountaineers 34-11 in the first half. Taylor Pryslak contributed 14 points and nine rebounds to the winning effort.

In boys basketball, Hackettstown rallied in the second half to improve its record to 11-3 on Friday.

The Tigers trailed visiting Newton (9-4) by a 19-10 score at the half, as the teams' shooting was as cold as the temperatures outside. However, the Tigers rallied for a 47-41 win thanks primarily to a 12-3 edge in made free throws. James Britt led Hackettstown with 15 points and Jeremy DelValle added 10.